He was in the final year of his deal that pays him $3.2 million a year. He was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July.

Ericsson, who played forward in his teen years, is 6-foot-4 and was the last player taken in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Like most of the Wings’ prospects they had him spend a number seasons overseas before bringing him to Grand Rapids where he spent three more seasons.

The logjam on the blue line was deep for Ericsson to break in with the likes of Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart and Niklas Kronwall.

“It’s taken time,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He evolved and now he plays on our top pair. He’s a big man and he can pass the puck. He’s smart and he obviously likes playing here or he wouldn’t have signed the deal and we like having him. It’s good for all of us.”

Ericsson raised his own bar high after his second short stint in Detroit and carried that over to a strong run in the 2009 playoffs, but then came some very inconsistent play over the next few seasons as Ericsson found himself in the Wings’ final pairing on D most of the nights.

“It’s not like Big E didn’t have his moments here where he struggled,” Babcock said. “That’s most of these guys’ careers. It’s hard. There are only so many stars and even those guys have up and down times. It’s no different than all of us.”

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